Maya moves fast, breaks split group

Four from the ABCD group — the Akhil Bharatiya Congress Dal — formally joined the BSP and will be sworn in as ministers tomorrow. An oath-taking ceremony is being held in the evening at the Raj Bhavan.

After a lengthy meeting with the Chief Minister, the four said they had quit the ABCD to join the BSP and had informed Assembly Speaker Kesari Nath Tripathi.

‘‘We have declared our loyalty to the BSP because the ABCD has no political future. Our split with the Congress on January 28 did not yield desired results, forcing us to join the BSP,’’ said Kazim Ali, among the four who switched loyalty. He is the son of Rampur Congress MP Noor Bano. The others who crossed over are Virendra Singh Bundela, Shyam Narain Tiwari and Kameshwar Upadhyaya.

They claimed more Congress legislators would join them soon. But the four who remained in the ABCD were not so sure. ‘‘The CM had been pressing us to first join the BSP and then discuss matters. We cannot join the BSP because our political careers will be at stake,’’ said one from the group, comprising Akhilesh Singh, Dinesh Kumar Singh, Vinod Kumar Kakka and Raj Pal Tyagi. Earlier, legislature party leaders of the Congress and SP said they were going to move a no-confidence motion against the Mayawati government during the Budget session.

‘‘We will give notice for the no-confidence motion to the Speaker tomorrow. This time it will not be defeated,’’ claimed SP legislature party leader Mohammed Azam Khan.

A similar announcement was made in New Delhi by Congress legislature party leader Pramod Tiwari, who together with 15 MLAs, met party president Sonia Gandhi.

The Opposition show of unity against Mayawati comes a day after Sonia met SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his general secretary Amar Singh.

Sensing trouble, Mayawati not only forced four from the ABCD to join her but also ensured indirect support of the three-member Apna Dal which had so far been with Mulayam Singh.

‘‘They experiment to form a backward manch involving Mulayam, Kalyan Singh and me has failed. We will abstain from the House if the no-confidence motion is brought,’’ said Sonelal Patel, Apna Dal’s president. The other development that is working to Mayawati’s advantage is the clamming-up of Vinay Katiyar, BJP UP chief who had been quite vocal in recent weeks.

‘‘I will not talk to print and electronic media on any issue concerning the UP government for one week,’’ said Katiyar, suggesting he had been spoken to by the BJP leadership after he tried to nail Mayawati on the POTA issue.